 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Jacquelyn Ramseyer
Senior activist Helen De Wolf is happy that the city of Sunnyvale plans to build a new senior center, but she's cool to the name 'Older Adult Center.'
Senior Moment
City favors naming center for 'older adults'
By Jana Seshadri
What's in a name? A rose, by any other name, would still smell as sweet, some might argue. Well, maybe--but try to telling that to the seniors who are active in the local senior center.
The seniors in Sunnyvale will get a brand new center. So far, so good. The problem is that instead of calling the new senior center a senior center, city officials are pushing for a new name--the older adult center. Ironically, the updated, politically correct name for people of a certain age is intended to make the center more appealing to younger seniors, those in the baby boomers set. But the current crop of seniors is offended by the new name. They prefer "seniors." And they're trying to get out their message.
"We're not being heard," says 81-year-old Helen DeWolf, a community activist who in 1998 started a petition drive for a new, bigger center. She was successful in having a 23,000 square-foot center approved by the city of Sunnyvale.
The current senior center, which is run by the department of parks and recreation, is located in an old school building on McKinley Avenue. City approval of the new $11 million center ,which will be located on the grounds of the Sunnyvale Community Center on Remington Drive, means seniors will be moving to new digs.
According to Robert Walker, director of parks and recreation, the planned name for the new center is The Older Adults Center, but he says the final decision on the name is up to the city council.
The current name is intended to be 'The Older Adults Center,' however, it's up to the city council to decide.
The new center will be discussed at the Nov. 27 meeting, but only to award bids for construction. Groundbreaking is expected to be sometime early next year.
"The seniors don't like the new name at all," says DeWolf, a nurse, who started the blood pressure clinic at the center and has been a part of the center for 15 years.
The seniors claim they have voiced their dislike of the new name and have informed officials that they would like to retain the old name, but they say nobody listens.
Mary Hidalgo, president of the Bay View Senior Club, volunteers at the Sunnyvale center. Hidalgo agrees with DeWolf. After getting a petition started, Hidalgo has collected 97 signatures already of people who don't want the name of the center changed.
The word "senior" just seems more respectful, more dignified, the seniors say.
"We just don't feel comfortable with the word 'older,' " Hidalgo says.
Not every senior in the center feels that strongly about the name, though. Some say they'll be happy so long as the services remain.
"I don't really care," says a senior in the center who did not want her name revealed. "It doesn't matter to me what they call it."
According to Myrna Stein, customer and business services supervisor, anyone can participate in the center's variety of programs and classes as long as they are 50 years or older and are members of the center. But, she says, not many 50-year-olds want to be seen in a "senior" center.
"Fifty-year-olds think of themselves differently," says Lawrence, who is leisure services manager for the city of Sunnyvale. "Their lifestyles are different, and they don't want to be seen as seniors. What we're looking at is how to bring in the younger generation."
As Lawrence points out, these baby boomers will be in the senior category in a decade or two, and the city hopes they will be using this facility.
"It's our goal to produce a building that is not going to be a problem five or 10 years from now," Lawrence says.
A strong voice for her peer group, DeWolf has started a petition in addition to Hidalgo's with 400 signatures already on it, to retain the center's name.
|
|
|
|
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
